Hawaii

Residential facilities providing religious, behavioral, and mental health treatment to children exist in all 50 states. Some of these facilities are known to be part of the Troubled Teen Industry, while others have not yet been verified. Any facility where children live and receive care requires additional oversight. This directory helps communities monitor local programs and advocate for accountability.

Aloha Youth Academy (CLOSED)
Malaekahana Park, Laie, HI

Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility
42-470 Kalanianaʻole Hwy, Kailua, HI 96734

Pacific Quest
301 Kalanianaole St, Hilo, HI 96720;
15-1903 26th Ave, Keaau, HI 96749;
15-2065 22nd Ave, Keaau, HI 96749

Pearl Haven (Ho’ōla Nā Pua)
O’ahu, HI

SeaChange Hawaii (CLOSED)
Käne`ohe Bay, O’ahu, HI

The Queen’s Medical Center – Kahi Mohala
912301 Old Fort Weaver Rd, Ewa Beach, HI 96706

Waiale’e Industrial School for Boys (CLOSED)
Oahu, HI

Facilities — News — Lawsuits — Legislation —

Facilities in Hawaii

Reporting abuse in Hawaii

Hawaii has a name for what happens in these places: Institutional Harm, meaning abuse or neglect in any substitute care arrangement the Department licenses - foster, group or child care. Its Child Welfare Intake Unit takes Institutional Harm reports around the clock alongside ordinary abuse reports, which means you do not have to argue about which category your call belongs in.

Time limits in Hawaii: a general guide

This was correct as far as we could tell when we checked it on 28 September 2026. Laws on time limits change often, sometimes every legislative session, so some of what follows may have been updated since. It is a starting point, not legal advice: please check with a lawyer before relying on any date here. A time limit on a lawsuit or a criminal charge is also not a time limit on telling someone, and most of the places listed below will still take a report.

Time limits for abuse of a child often run from the survivor's 18th birthday, or from when they came to understand what happened, rather than from the day the program closed. Many states have lengthened them, removed them for child sexual abuse, or reopened claims that had already expired. A criminal charge, a lawsuit and a licence complaint each have their own time limit, so one having passed does not necessarily mean the others have.

Lawsuits

Physical abuse or injury: Two years for any personal injury, whether it was assault, battery, false imprisonment or negligence. Hawaii courts start the two years when the person knew, or should have known, of the injury and who caused it. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 657-7
If it happened before you turned 18: Yes. If you were under 18 when you were hurt, the two years start on your 18th birthday, so the deadline is your 20th birthday. The statute has no cap. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 657-13
If the program was run by or for the government: Less certain A lawsuit against the State must be filed within two years of the injury, and the State cannot be sued under its tort claims law for assault, battery or false imprisonment by its employees. For a county, written notice is required within two years. Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 662-4, 662-15(4), 46-72
Child sexual abuse: CSA: The civil CSA SOL is age 26 or 3 years from discovery as against perpetrators. The SOL is age 20 or 2 years from discovery as against other defendants. Trafficking: The SOL is age 24 for sex trafficking claims. CSAM: The SOL is age 26 for CSAM claims. CHILD USA's summary

Criminal charges

Physical child abuse: Less certain Hawaii has no separate felony crime of physical child abuse; it is charged as assault or as endangering the welfare of a minor. Those felonies must be charged within 3 years (6 years for a class A felony). The clock is not paused until the child turns 18 for physical abuse. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 701-108(2)(b), (d), (6)(c); § 709-903.5; § 707-710
Assault: Assault in the first degree (class B felony) and second degree (class C felony) must be charged within 3 years. Misdemeanor assault must be charged within 2 years (1 year for a petty misdemeanor). Haw. Rev. Stat. § 701-108(2)(d)-(f); §§ 707-710, 707-711
Child sexual abuse: CSA: There is no SOL for some sexual assault felonies, and an SOL of ages 21 and 24 for other felonies. The SOL for misdemeanors is two years from the offense. Trafficking: There is no SOL for sex trafficking felonies. CSAM: The SOL for first-degree felony CSAM offenses is age 24, while the SOL for second- and third-degree felony CSAM offenses is age 21. CHILD USA's summary

The injury, assault and physical abuse lines are our reading of the statutes linked, as they stood on 28 September 2026. The child sexual abuse lines are CHILD USA's summary as it stood on 28 September 2026; their page may be more current than ours. In them SOL means statute of limitations, CSA child sexual abuse, and CSAM child sexual abuse material. "Less certain" marks a line where the law is unclear or where our reading has not been confirmed, so please treat it with extra care. Exceptions, court rulings and the details of what happened can all change which time limit applies, and some of these may be longer or shorter for you than they look here. CHILD USA's statute of limitations tracker, updated as each state changes its law. A lawyer can tell you which time limit applies to you, and many offer a free first consultation.

The therapist's licensing board

Holds the individual clinician's licence and can suspend or revoke it.

Hawaii Regulated Industries Complaints Office (RICO)

Multiple professions

The licence-enforcement arm of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. It reviews complaints against licensees of the professional boards - psychologists, marriage and family therapists, clinical social workers, physicians and psychiatrists among them - files administrative actions against them, and sues people providing those services with no board licence at all.

Use this whenA licensed mental health professional in Hawaii, or somebody practising without a licence.

HowUse the Health Care Provider Complaint Form from the Professional and Vocational Licensing pages.

The Resource Center will tell you a licensee's current status and whether they have a prior complaint history, which is worth asking before you file.

808-587-3295 RICO Consumer Resource Center; also 808-587-4272.
File a complaint
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The agency that licenses the program

Inspects the facility itself and can cite, fine, suspend or close it.

Hawaii DHS child care and residential licensing

Licenses Hawaii's substitute care arrangements and decides whether a complaint discloses a breach of the child care law or licensing rules that needs investigating.

Use this whenA licensed Hawaii facility, where the issue is a licensing breach. Abuse or neglect goes to the hotline instead, and the Department says so directly.

HowReport to the licensing unit for the facility.

Law enforcement and legal channels

Child protection, the Attorney General, and the criminal side.

Hawaii Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline

The statutory report line. The Child Welfare Intake Unit takes reports around the clock, including Institutional Harm reports - abuse or neglect in any substitute care arrangement the Department licenses.

Use this whenA child at a Hawaii program.

HowCall. From the neighbour islands there is a toll-free number.

808-832-5300 Oahu. Toll free from the neighbour islands, 1-888-380-3088. 24 hours a day.
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Oversight and advocacy

Bodies with a right to investigate, and advocates who can act for you.

Hawaii Disability Rights Center

Hawaii's Protection and Advocacy agency, with federal authority to investigate abuse and neglect of people with disabilities in facilities, a right of access to them, and free legal advocacy.

Use this whenA Hawaii program where the young person has a disability or a mental health diagnosis.

HowContact the intake line.

808-949-2922 Voice and TTY. Toll-free TTY 1-800-882-1057.
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National reporting channels, and the same list for other states